Improvement in screw-gearing for rolling-mills



UNITED TA'IES FRANCIS HIGKMAN, OF READING, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN SCREW-GEARING FOR ROLLING-MILLS.

Specificationforming part ofLetters Patent No. 195,130, dated September11, 1877; application filed May 17, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANCIS HIGKMAN, of

Reading, in the county of Berks, and in the State of Pennsylvania, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Screw-Gearing forRolling-Mills; and do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon,making a part of this specification.

My invention relates to that class of rollingmachines where there aretwo or more sets of rolls set at difl'erent distances apart; and itconsists in an improved screw-gearing for setting or adjusting the rollsall at the same time, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth. I

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my inven tionappertains to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe itsconstruction and operation, referring to the annexed drawings, in which-Figure 1 is a plan view-of a rolling-machine embodying my invention.Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same.

A represents the frame of a rolling-machine containing three sets ofrollers, the upper roller of each set being adjusted up and down bymeans of screw-shafts to increase or diminish the distance between itand the bottom rollers.

In the drawing, a a), a a and a a represent bevel-gear wheels secured,respectively, on the upper ends of said screws for the three sets ofrollers. These gear-wheels mesh with corresponding bevel-gear wheels bb, b b, and b b secured on three shafts, d, d, and d located on top ofthe mill.

On the ends of these shafts are respectivelyseeured bevel-gear wheels BB B, which gradually increase in diameter, as seen in Fig. l, and meshwith similar bevel gear wheels, 0 G 0 which decrease in diameter incorresponding proportion. The wheels O G G are all secured on one longshaft, D, provided at one end with a hand-wheel, D, for turning thesame.

It will readily be seen that by turning the shaft D the wheels a, a anda will be actuated at diflerent rates of speed, and hence theirrespective rollers lowered or raised at varying distances.

In a universal rolling machine, where" the billets or bars to be rolledare of varying sizes or thicknesses, it is necessary to change the biteor gripe of the rolls in order that each succeeding pair of rolls shallreduce or lengthen the bar just in proportion as the speed of the nextrolls take it up. Consequently, when the distance between the first pairof rolls is changed to take in a smaller billet, the next or second pairof rolls must be changed proportionately, or the bar would come from thesecond pair of rolls faster than the third pair would take it up, itbeing borne in mind that in a universal rolling-machine the speeds atwhich the various sets of rolls travel are in proportion to thereduction of the iron, and the reduction of the iron by each set ofrolls is in proportion as the speed of the next succeeding rolls willtake up.

My arrangement of screwgearing is designed to facilitate or simplify thesetting of screws in rolling-machines, as without it it would benecessary to use a gage for every set of rolls, and set them one at atime;

If, for instance, in a machine. having three or more sets of rollers, itis desired to move or set the first pair of rollers one inch closer, thelast pair will move but one-third that distance, or approximately somuch, and the intermediate pairs of rolls in proportion. Thisisaccomplished by the varying size of the gear-wheels on the shafts D anda a a. The shaft D being rotated, the gear wheels 0 B will, of course,rotate the shaft a faster than the shaft a is rotated by the gear wheels0 B and this shaft 0? is rotated faster than the shaft a by thegear-wheels 0 B and as the gearwheels I) b b on the shafts a a? a are ofuniform size, it follows that the screws operated by the said wheels b bb will be turned at different rates of speed, thus bringing all therolls together at the same time.

When more than two sets of rolls are used the arrangement of gearing isaccording to the speed of the rolls, and their distance apart. Thus, saythe first pair of rolls are one inch apart, the second pairthree-fourths of an inch, and third pair one-half inch. Consequently, tobring the rolls all together at the same time, the screws of the firstrolls would have to move just twice as fast as the screws of the thirdpair of rolls, while the speed of the screws of the second pair of rollswould be between that of the first and third.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- In a rolling-mill having two ormore sets of rolls at varying distances apart, the combination, with thegears a a a on the screws of the upper rollers, the shafts d d at,having FRANCIS HIUKMAN.

Witnesses:

FRANK GALT, F. M. BANKS.

